For the feed of longitudinal wires cut to length to a processing machine, such as a grid welding machine, a mechanism is known having arranged in alignment side by side a plurality of grippers, which can be lowered and raised and also displaced in the direction of feed of the longitudinal wires, and each of which seize from above one single wire out of a loose bundle of wires, i.e., out of a stock of wires already lying without arrangement on a supporting table and introduce the gripped wires into the grid welding machine in parallel with one another and spaced apart (cf.DAS No. 1452974).
In the case of this known mechanism the gripper cheeks must, during the lowering motion of the grippers, be pushed into the wire stock while open in order upon their succeeding closing motion to be able to seize one single wire and lift it up out of the wire stock. Then the grippers with the wires clamped firmly between their cheeks are moved towards the welding machine, whereupon the wires get pulled in their longitudinal direction out of the wire stock.
In the case of this mechanism the pushing of the open gripper cheeks into the unyieldingly supported wire stock is difficult especially since the thickly packed wires can hardly be deflected sideways. The closing of the gripper cheeks pushed into the wire stock is likewise difficult and having regard to the thickly packed wire stock is only possible at all if the grippers are raised again simultaneously with the closing motion. Moreover it has to be taken into consideration that the weight of the wire seized, the weight of further wires perhaps still pressing heavily on it in the disorderly wire stock and also the gripper cheeks themselves cause components of force directed downwards against the wire seized, which promote slipping of the wire seized out of the gripper cheeks. The known mechanism is consequently unreliable in operation.